Centamin plc Announces Preliminary Production Results for the Quarter End December 31, 2014; Provides Production Guidance for the Full Year of 2015
January 08, 2015 at 12:30 pm IST
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Centamin plc announced preliminary production results for the quarter end December 31, 2014. Total gold production for the quarter was a record 128,115 ounces, a 40% increase on the corresponding quarter in 2013 and 37% higher than third quarter of 2014. This brings full year production to 377,261 ounces, a 6% increase on 2013 and within revised guidance of between 370,000 and 380,000 ounces. Record quarterly throughput at the process plant was 2,597kt, a 9% increase on third quarter of 2014 and above nameplate capacity of 10Mtpa, with potential to increase further during subsequent quarters as the new plant expansion is fully optimized. Open pit total material movement increased 21% on the previous quarter, to 13,804kt following the government approval during the quarter for the required increase in Ammonium Nitrate (AN) usage. Open pit ore production increased on third quarter of 2014 by 53% to 4,123kt and average grades mined increased over the third quarter. The run of mine ore stockpile balance increased by 1,021kt to 2,172kt at the end of the period.
The company forecasts production from the Sukari Gold Mine for 2015 is 420,000 ounces at a cash operating cost of USD 700 per ounce. This would represent an 11% increase on 2014 production of 377,261 ounces and would become the sixth successive year of growth at Sukari. Open pit production for 2015 is focused on stripping the northern and eastern walls of the pit with higher grades scheduled to be mined in the second half of 2015.
Centamin plc is a Jersey-based gold producer. Its assets include Sukari Gold Mine, Doropo Gold Project and ABC Project. The Sukari is a bulk tonnage open pit and a high-grade underground operation, with significant exploration upside at depth and regionally, within the 160 square kilometers (km2) tenement. The Doropo Project consists of seven exploration permits, covering an area of over 1,850 km2. The Doropo Project is in the northeast of Cote dâIvoire, over 480 kilometers (km) north of Abidjan. The ABC Project is in northwest Cote d'Ivoire, over 550 km northwest of Abidjan and 460 km west of Centamin's Doropo project. Its EDX Blocks comprise 3,000 km2 of greenfield exploration tenements within the Egyptian section of the Arabian Nubian Shield. The land package is divided into three blocks: Nugrus Block, which covers over 1,086 km2, Um Rus Block, which is located 50 km north of Sukari, and Najd Block, which is located 100 km northwest of Sukari in the Central Eastern Desert.